I tried a long exposure shot into the sky last night. It just came out black I'm going to try again tonight. Perhaps it's too cloudy round where I live or maybe there's too much in the way of street lights affecting it.

I tried a long exposure shot into the sky last night. It just came out black I'm going to try again tonight. Perhaps it's too cloudy round where I live or maybe there's too much in the way of street lights affecting it.

I'd be interested to know how you get on, please keep us informed. I'm guessing there's a chance that the camera can pick up something you can't see, although having never done it I'm only guessing

I decided to take a shot at it. No amazing clouds of stars or anything, don't think its dark enough where i am but this is what i've got so far. This was shot with a Nikon d80 with the 18-70mm @ 70, ISO 1600 and 10 sec shutter. and a little brightness tweaking in photoshop.

here is the sky at 70mm, the red square is the crop below of the Andromeda galaxy

Hi Digz, there's lots of stuff around, but I'd try and pick up a copy of Sky and Telescope or Astronomy - both US mags, but sold in larger WH Smiths in the UK - as they'll give you an idea of what's available. If there's a telescope shop near Bristol, I'd also recommend a browse...

Welly, do you live in Leeds now? Great city. I used to live in Huddersfield and there's certainly lots of light pollution in the urban parts of West Yorkshire, but there are lots of serious astrophotographers in your neck of the woods and some great astronomy societies. Many have some great equipment - and as crucially - experienced members who know how to make the most of it. I can personally recommend the Huddersfield Astronomical Society, but there's probably one in Leeds too, maybe affiliated with the University. If nothing else, they'll know some dark spots to shoot from.

But yes, I wouldn't bother unless it's a 100% clear night - at least in the area of the sky you want to photograph.

PS - Digz, I'd also recommend seeing if there's a good astro society in Bristol, as you may be able to try some of their equipment before buying. Indeed you may not even subsequently need to buy.

Hi guys, great thread. I've been looking for advice on simple astrophotography and this has been a great source of information. A few nights ago, I went out to shoot some pics of the night sky, and here's what I came away with:

This is the result of three photos stacked (with DeepSkyStacker). The three original exposures were all the same, 5 seconds at ISO 400 and f/1.4. I used a custom white balance to eliminate polution from the sodium vapor street lights. Still working out optimal settings, so any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I suffer from the same issue of sodium street lamps and I have found that using a specialist filter (Hutech is one source but there are others out there) helps a lot. They aren't cheap, unfortunately, but I think that if you can't find darker skies you might need to make that investment as the custom white balance you used, while effective at getting rid of the orange, has resulted in purple stars.

This thread has been a fantastic resource for basic astrophotography. I gave it a shot last night (and will go to the same location again tonight if there aren't any clouds).

I was pretty happy with these 2.

The first one was at ISO 1250, the second one was at ISO2000. Both 30 second exposures at f/3.5 (the minimum aperture of the Nikon 18-200 lens). I might primarily use the 50mm 1.8 tonight though. Open up the aperture a bit more, and tone down the ISO